Tag Archives | USPTO Fees

The USPTO has three fee categories: large entity, small entity, and micro entity. Previously I wrote about micro entities that usually get a 75 percent reduction from the large entity fees. If you don’t qualify as a micro entity, you might qualify as an entity, which usually gets you a 50 percent fee reduction.

USPTO rule 37 C.F.R. 1.27 defines which persons, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations qualify as a small entity. An owner of a patent application or a patent is entitled to small entity status only if, the owner is:

A person … meaning any inventor or other individual ( e.g., an individual to whom an inventor has transferred some rights in the invention) who has not assigned, granted, conveyed, or licensed, and is under no obligation under

The American Invents Act (AIA) authorized a new fee category, micro entity, directed to reduce fees for individual inventors and small companies. Previously, there were only two fee categories: Large entities that pay full fees, and small entities that usually pay half the fees of the large entity. Micro entities are provided a 75 percent reduction from the large entity fee rate.

To qualify as a micro entity, the applicant must meet all the items under one of the two sets rules.

Rule Set 1 (Income Limit):

Each applicant qualifies as a USPTO-defined small entity under 37 C.F.R. 1.27.

Each applicant is not named on more than four previously filed applications. However, the following application do not count: (a) applications that the applicant has assigned, or is obligated to assign,